2023 CNBC LLC. In late 2018, Thomas Kurian left Oracle after more than two decades to become the new CEO of Google Cloud, the search giant's cloud-computing arm, the following January. Mark Haranas is an assistant news editor and longtime journalist now covering cloud, multicloud, software, SaaS and channel partners at CRN. Ping Wu, a vice president of engineering and product at Cresta who previously worked as a senior director of engineering under Kurian, told Insider: "There has been an evolution of the culture to be more enterprise-focused The market operation got stronger under Thomas.". But most large companies do have commission caps in place. CNBC reported Wednesday that Kurian, in a recent email to staff, announced a broad reorganization within Google Cloud's engineering units. "No organization is perfect, but they are incredibly top-down and leader-driven," one recently departed manager said. "He always looks back at Thomas and says, 'Thomas, what do you think? In its fourth-quarter report released earlie this month, Alphabet said Google Cloud generated $2.61 billion in Q4, with a total of $8.92 billion in revenue in 2019. When I joined, I was very clear that we are a products and solutions company, were not a services company. Our partners feel that the future of the world is multi-cloud, and so do we.. Mandiant builds on SIEM, adds threat intelligence for Google Cloud Chronicle Security Operations . According to Forbes, Ullal owns about 5% of Arista's stock, some of which is earmarked for her two children, niece and nephew. Google Cloud's second-quarter performance this year puts it on track for an US$18.5 billion annualized revenue run rate in 2021, although the business remains unprofitable, posting a US$591 million operating loss for the three months ended June 30. In 2021 it reported 80% growth in total deal volume and 65% growth in deals over $1 billion. And last quarter it announced deals with companies like Boeing, Bloomberg, L'Oral, and Kraft Heinz. Guest: Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud In this episode, we cover: Thomas' childhood in India (03:45); His twin brother George the CEO of NetApp and their trailblazing mother (07:40); Nostalgia for simpler times without responsibilities (14:03); Working up the ranks at Oracle, from product manager to president (21:40); The Google Cloud opportunity (30:12); How to succeed inside a . But Mr Kurian kept his guard up with the executives who worked most closely with him. Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify the circumstances of Eyal Manor's departure from Google, Watch Now: Google Cloud is reorganizing its engineering units. Six vice presidents, including the sales president Robert Enslin, have left this year alone. Despite Google Cloud's rapid growth, the unit was $5.6 billion in the hole in 2020. Mr Kurian resigned from Oracle in September 2018, and when asked about the circumstances of that departure, he said it was time to do something new. In all, around 30 VPs have left Google Cloud since Kurian took charge. But it's unclear whether he'll stick around long enough to get the division in the black. More Episodes; 2023 McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance More ways to shop: Find an Apple Store or other retailer near you. "If you think about somebody accomplishing the dream, they did," he said. When Google hired him in 2018, it came as a shock because he was the least "Google-y" person to be a leader at the company, where employees largely felt they had a voice and everything was working toward a greater good. Mr Kurian stayed at Oracle for 22 years, and toward the end he was seen as an heir to co-founder Larry Ellison's throne. "As we continue to scale, we are focused on building a world-class team committed to serving the needs of our customers and partners.". "Sundar, Urs and I all interviewed Thomas, and I believe that he'll do an amazing job helping to take Google Cloud to the next level." Who is Thomas Kurian? (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images), broke out Google Clouds operating revenue. All the people spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about the company, but their identities are known to Insider. Im really excited to see Google play an even bigger role securing large parts of public sector and commercial entities from all the threats that are probably only going to get more sophisticated over time.. Contact Hugh Langley via encrypted email (hlangley@protonmail.com) or encrypted messaging apps Signal or Telegram at +1 628-228-1836. Manor will look for other areas inside the company to work, Kurian said. Enterprise sales executives make an average salary of $191,000 a year in the US, according to LinkedIn. Mr Kurian, though, follows up with significant customers periodically. Hes not afraid to make hard decisions. There are a lot of things weve done with our sales organization to make sure that partners are seen as really complementary to us, he said. Furthermore, Google Clouds move to win cloud mindshare via its security technology is getting a major shot in the arm with Googles upcoming blockbuster acquisition of incident response superstar Mandiant. TK bu. Thomas Kurian is making his market-share takeover move as Google Cloud looks to industrialize the cybersecurity industry, create the worlds most open cloud marketplace and completely eradicate channel conflict. Are you a current or former Google Cloud employee? Google has steadily gained market share in infrastructure cloud services, now with 9% according to Synergy Research, compared to 7% when Mr Kurian took the helm. Mr. Kurian has been CEO of Google Cloud since 2019. Bring that customer base to the partner ecosystem. Interestingly, hes also from Hyderabad and his continuous efforts have bagged him a spot on the Fortune Businessperson of the Year list multiple times and also a Padma Shri. The technical unit alone has doubled since he joined, Kurian said in his recent email. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian outlined several leadership changes to the company's Cloud unit in an email to staff. He recently faced backlash from employees for contradicting his own remote work policies, too. One former employee says that Google Cloud is focusing on hiring for customer support roles in Mexico City as a cost-cutting move. Get insight on Google's cloud business from Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian #cloud #google #innovation #talent #sustainability #ai #ml Get insight on Google's cloud business from Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian #cloud #google #innovation #talent #sustainability #ai #ml Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. He has also encouraged the sales teams to incorporate other Google products, such as artificial intelligence tools and the Android mobile operating system, into their pitches in attempts to compete for more customers, especially more noteworthy ones. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. That makes it much easier for partners to know that when they go in with Google Cloud, the company will not try to bring its own services and compete with them, he said. We are completely open on the Google Cloud Marketplace, whether the solution is complementary or whether its even overlapping with Google products because we fundamentally want to provide customer choice, said Kevin Ichhpurani, Google Clouds global channel chief. Thomas Kurian is ready to make his move. Under Kurian, Google Cloud has hired more salespeople, adjusted its pay incentives to be more in line with rivals like Oracle and Microsoft, and generally gotten better at taking feedback and adjusting its approach accordingly. Get insight on Google's cloud business from Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian #cloud #google #innovation #talent #sustainability #ai #ml A graduate of Delhi University and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Ajay Banga is not just the CEO of MasterCard but also President and also a member of its board of directors. Manor oversaw the app management service Anthos, which Google hopes will give it an edge against rivals. Thomas Kurian was born in Kerala's Kottayam district. Thomas R Kurian is CEO:Cloud at Google LLC. The tech giant remained stuck in third place -- well behind Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. "There's no obvious Achilles heel to Amazon's position or Microsoft's position," said Mark Mahaney, an analyst at Evercore ISI. CEO Kurian estimated at the time that Google Cloud's sales staff was somewhere between one-tenth to one-fifteenth the size of the sales teams at Amazon and Microsoft's cloud divisions.. Three years later, Kurian is at the end of his current contract with Google Cloud, two people close to the company told Insider. It took an outsider from India and a veteran of the nasty enterprise software wars of the 1990s to bring old-school salesmanship to the search giant; and in the process, Google's playful, intellectual culture may have softened his style and dulled his hard edges. Here's what current and former Google Cloud employees say has and hasn't worked under Kurian. From increasing Google Clouds head count by upward of 15,000 employees and consistently growing sales by billions of dollars year after year to opening the Google Cloud Marketplace to channel partners, Kurian isnt just making Google Cloud a more formidable player against its cloud rivalshes looking to take the industry by storm through a highly differentiated partner-led strategy. New Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian says the company will substantially bolster the size of its sales force. And his results speak for themselves. Google Cloud partners are bullish that placing their services and solutions on the open Google Cloud Marketplace will increase sales and create new customer opportunities. Google Clouds channel chief said the companys partner-driven sales model isnt going away. So thats where we, as a partner, see that entire opportunity of moving our products and [intellectual property] to the marketplace and allowing our end customers to be able to use some of their Google [spending] commitment for procuring services using a SaaS model., Srivastava predicts that about 10 percent to 20 percent of TCS total Google Cloud sales will come via the Google Cloud Marketplace in the near term, but we see it going much higher over time.. The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Padma Shri Award to Shri Ajaypal Singh Banga, at a Civil Investiture Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on March 28, 2016. The move puts Google Cloud at risk of losing top-tier talent to other organizations in need of enterprise sales representatives. Calder spent eight years at Microsoft before joining Google Cloud in 2015. "It's a hard position to be in, but it's a good business to be in.". "You have to adapt to the style of the place that you're working in and the people you're working with," Mr Kurian said in an interview. Jayshree Ullal, Arista Networks - Rs 9,800 crore, 3. Insightful interview from #CloudWars with Thomas Kurian outlining how #GoogleCloud's short history as a big-time player in the enterprise space is a Domenico Irilli on LinkedIn: Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian: "We're the New Kid on the Block" When Kurian first arrived, Google Cloud was generating $5.8 billion in annual sales as of 2018. Or call 1-800-MY-APPLE. More than two years later, no one is befuddled by Mr Kurian's appointment. His workforce is now 37,000 people strong, from 25,000 when he took the reins, making Mr Kurian one of the most important executives at Google. Early on at Google, he was known to scream at some executives in one-on-one meetings, but did not have public tirades. Answer (1 of 4): I worked at Oracle in TK's org too (if you were an Engineer, you worked in his org). Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis. In the current era, with geopolitical issues and other things, that is a real threat. Google plans to spend $9.5 billion on datacenters and U.S. offices this year, preparing itself for significant cloud growth ahead. Get insight on Google's cloud business from Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian #cloud #google #innovation #talent #sustainability #ai #ml November 17, 2018. They said that anybody below that level has to cut through red tape to do the same, while before the pandemic they had more flexibility to use the budget to book trips. He has completely legitimized the platform in the hearts, minds and eyes of the largest organizations in the world, said Tony Safoian, CEO of Los Angeles-based SADA Systems, one of Google Clouds top channel partners. While his predecessor, Diane Greene, encouraged employees to use Google Chrome OS-powered Chromebooks, Kurian has given his blessing for staffers to use whichever operating system helps them be productive, an employee said. Kurian has also put a strong focus on the company's sales organization. The plan to continue growing the Google Cloud Marketplace is to make it the most open cloud marketplace in the industry, regardless of whether solutions listed on the marketplace are competitive or complementary to Google Cloud, according to Ichhpurani. You would probably notice they have never been brought down, and youre able to access them all the time, Kurian pointed out. Thomas Kurian, the head of Google's cloud division, said the company's work with oil giant Saudi Aramco doesn't include oil production, offering some of his first public comments on the . Insiders also praised Kurian for whipping Google Cloud into shape when it comes to working with customers, bucking the search giant's reputation for putting more effort into the underlying technology than solving actual business problems. That was Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian's simple answer when I asked if he thought he'd achieved what he set out to do in his first year. Current and former employees say that by bringing in such outsiders, Kurian has caused friction with those at the company who themselves had "management aspirations.". As Kurian himself put it, If you look at our position relative to where we were just three and a half years ago when I took over the business, its night and day. Thomas Kurian was the Executive Vice President of Oracle Product Development. In a blockbuster move that sent shockwaves through the industry, Kurian left Oracle after a successful 22-year career to become CEO of Mountain View, Calif.-based Google Cloud in late 2018. Get insight on Google's cloud business from Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian #cloud #google #innovation #talent #sustainability #ai #ml He doubled the $300,000 salaries salespeople make at enterprise companies like SAP to come to Google. Under Greene, Google Cloud made much-needed strides toward closing the gap with industry leaders Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, both of which it has long lagged behind. Mr Kurian and Ellison clashed over the company's cloud strategy, with Mr Kurian arguing the database maker should collaborate more with rivals to boost its presence while Ellison preferred to go it alone. That perception is only reinforced by the leadership team that Kurian has brought in from companies like Microsoft and Oracle, even as longtime Google execs like Urs Hlzle take a less active role at the unit. He also got $242 million richer since the time his net worth was elaborated at Rs 3,300 crore in 2019, courtesy of the promotion. Such a competitive culture stands in stark contrast to the rest of Google, overseen by Pichai. Mr Kurian never realized an ambition to bring Oracle to the cloud big leagues and now has a chance to complete unfinished business by making his division a leader in the industry. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Kurian took over in October and is trying to close the gap with Amazon and. Christian Martin, who joined the company last year as its Alpine regional chief after more than two decades at Cisco, has also quit. Kurian joined NetApp in 2011 as Senior Vice President of its storage solutions group. Diane Greene, the current CEO of Google Cloud, made a statement following the replacement which reads; "Kurian, a respected technologist, and executive, will be joining Google Cloud on November 26 and transitioning into the Google Cloud leadership role in early 2019." You can run in Google Cloud, you can run on-premises or in another cloud. Google CEO Pichai and Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat agree, pledging their support for the division on earnings calls. Get insight on Google's cloud business from Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian #cloud #google #innovation #talent #sustainability #ai #ml "We're proud of our success as the fastest-growing major cloud provider," a Google Cloud spokesperson said in a statement. This provides a great opportunity for NIMBLto showcase several of our solutions as prepackaged offerings that are available to companies.. Hes not afraid to change his mind or strategy, to make decisions given new information. Got a tip? He also personally managed the creation of new procedures that allow banks to store data in Google's facilities while complying with regulators, a thorny process the business had long needed to resolve. Insightful interview from #CloudWars with Thomas Kurian outlining how #GoogleCloud's short history as a big-time player in the enterprise space is a Wojciech Marusiak on LinkedIn: Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian: "We're the New Kid on the Block" ^ "Kurian Thomas profile". You build relationships you lose your momentum with your clients.". Kurian is looking to make security the next big differentia-tor for Google Cloud, which is where the Mandiant acquisition falls in place, said TCS Srivastava. Specifically, Kurian told CRN that Mandiant will bring several key capabilities to Google, including vulnerability assessment and world-renowned consulting expertise around identifying threats and understanding the threat vector. Effectively, Kurian said hes created an ecosystem where there is zero channel conflict. Several Google Cloud insiders further said that Kurian had overseen a competitive environment in which aggression is valued, with one dubbing it a "culture of negativity." A Division of NBCUniversal. Get insight on Google's cloud business from Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian #cloud #google #innovation #talent #sustainability #ai #ml "A lot of people have concerns about the fact that you came from Oracle, which is a very different culture," one person said to Mr Kurian. Born in Uttar Pradesh, Nikesh Arora started his career as a Google Executive and ended up becoming one of the highest-paid employees there. What makes Pichais journey even more noteworthy is the fact that he began his career at Google as a Management Executive in 2004. Thomas Kurian is the CEO of Google Cloud. In the hunt for improved margins, insiders describe wide-ranging cost cuts across the unit, including slashed budgets for hiring, marketing, partnerships, and sales commissions. Kurian plans to integrate Mandiants technology into Google Cloud products such as its Chronicle cloud-native SIEM platform for better risk and vulnerability analysis, as well as newly acquired automation remediation technology from Siemplify, which Google Cloud purchased this year for a reported $500 million. Prior to Kurian, 10 managers would have to provide approval before a salesperson could offer a discount to a customer, and the deal would then require non-disclosure agreements and a team of lawyers. Hes one of the few leaders I know who can talk from the 100,000-foot view and moonshot ideas and explain a YAML file., [RELATED: Thomas Kurian: Why Google Cloud Bests AWS, Azure In The Channel]. Google has taken equity stakes in companies including Univision Communications Inc. and CME Group Inc. and received commitments to its. Specialize the partner ecosystem sot they have deep skills in different areas and introduce the partners with our sales organization to customers by eliminating friction of any kind between the partners and customers, said Kurian. Mr Kurian's twin, George, the CEO of tech company NetApp Inc., said their parents were pioneers. Other types of secure messaging available upon request. You are outside of the decision-making for the entire company.". Photographer: Michael Short/Bloomberg, FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 11: People, walk past a Google Cloud exhibit during the press days at the 2019 IAA Frankfurt Auto Show on September 11, 2019 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Rahul calmly said 'Dude if you are okay with zero salary, why settle for 10%. Google Cloud CEO Called Oracle Cloud a 'Disgrace' (businessinsider.com) 40. He became president and COO in 2005, CEO in 2007 and Chairman of the board in 2017. We offer cyber insurance, so a customer can buy cyber insurance when they run workloads on a cloud and get great rates because theyre running on a secure infrastructure. Kurian "is clear: We hired people to win. Solution providers are rarely ever alone in the sales trenches without Google Clouds sales force providing help. There's no denying that Kurian has achieved real results at Google Cloud, with revenue growing 45% year over year, according to the division's most recent earnings report. (PR pitches by email only, please.) Sergio Cipolla, CEO of Denver-based Google Cloud partner NIMBL, said opening up the marketplace to the channel is instrumental in showing Google Cloud customers how flexible and customizable the platform can be in addressing every type of business need. Sources say teams under Kurian have adopted processes from companies like Microsoft or Oracle, including weekly pipeline reviews of customers and an account-review system where groups meet to "poke holes" in each others' plans. The shakeup is meant to help continue to grow Google Cloud's. As Insider recently reported, recent changes to salespeople's pay packages have confused and concerned some at the company who worry it means they'll miss out on 25% of their annual bonus. Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, visited the country and met with a consortium of high-level officials leading Qatar's digital transformation roadmap and propelling the adoption of digital and cloud technologies across several sectors. Member of Oracle's Executive Committee for 13 Years Led 35,000-person software development team in 32 countries; 53 cities; R&D Budget of $4.0 Billion Develop Products generating 35 Billion in. He speaks with world-renown CEOs and IT experts as well as covering breaking news and live events while also managing several CRN reporters. But she lasted barely over a year in the role. In March, Google published internally the results of its annual "Googlegeist" survey, tracking how employees in each unit feel about everything from payto the impact of their work. While few would argue Kurian's progress, his strategies for closing the gap with AWS and Microsoft have caused some dissension in the ranks. A higher office may hinge on Mr Kurian's results. Other types of secure messaging available upon request. Kurian is steering the company toward a target of $34 billion in annual revenue by 2023, according to a person with direct knowledge of the company's plans, up from over $17 billion today. Most of the described traits such as being detail-oriented and super smart and motivated, are spot-on. At the same time, Google Cloud is still unprofitable, showing losses of $644 million in the latest quarter and $1.2 billion in 2020, even as it spends big on hiring particularly, hiring salespeople and building new data centers. Looking at the big crunch for talent today and the speed at which cloud journeys are being driven across the enterprise landscape, it brings a ton of complementary capabilities for Google Cloud to make security a big differentiator.. #Google #CEO About #hybridwork , #human are better when they are face to face, there are few things its better to be onsite (e.g. We are not building up or scaling our services organization internally, said Ichhpurani. The exodus of veteran leaders has been compounded by struggles to retain some new recruits. What Thomas Kurian has done for Google Cloud cannot be overstated. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Google CEO Sundar Pichai appears to have given Kurian free rein to do whatever he wants so long as the business continues to grow, with Google Cloud effectively treated as a separate entity from other parts of the company, insiders said. Archived from the original on February 10, 2012. Like Mr Kurian, Greene was a polarizing leader, attracting either adoration or antipathy, but they diverged in a key way. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories, With great power comes great responsibility, and even greater paycheques. Google Cloud has grown briskly during Mr Kurian's tenure. For the first time, Google Cloud is opening the marketplace for partners to resell ISVs products with the goal of creating the most open cloud marketplace in the world. His father was first in the family to attend college. "So how are you going to preserve the culture at Google Cloud?" Got a tip? As a result, you can look publicly at the threat data and the reports on breaches [and see that] we have a very secure cloud approach that we are confident in, said Kurian. You can also contact Google reporter Martin Coulter via email at mcoulter@insider.com, or via encrypted messaging app Signal at +447801985586. Google Cloud may still trail Amazon Web Services and Microsoft's Azure, but unit CEO Thomas Kurian tells Axios that he has a plan to continue to gain share and eventually turn a profit. He secured goodwill from rank-and-file staffers when discussing his personal life, telling anecdotes about how he and his twin George used to impersonate one another. He stays on message, telling customers how Google will help them accelerate their businesses. Mr Kurian made it a priority to strengthen the cloud unit's standing in the database and analytics market, which Oracle has traditionally led. Insightful interview from #CloudWars with Thomas Kurian outlining how #GoogleCloud's short history as a big-time player in the enterprise space is a Maud Lemonnier on LinkedIn: Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian: "We're the New Kid on the Block" Analysts estimate that the unit's revenue grew about. Those salespeople said that was at least partially because of different incentives across the company: At Google Cloud, such deals are handled by its dedicated sales force, which has quotas tied to the number and size of the deals it closes. Google Cloud employees were baffled when they learned that their next boss would be Thomas Kurian, an executive who struggled to shepherd Silicon Valley mainstay Oracle Corp. into the promised land of internet computing. Thomas Kurian, a longtime Oracle exec who Google hired to replace former cloud CEO Diane Greene in November, put an emphasis on partnerships and Google's multi-cloud approach during. Nikesh Arora, Palo Alto Networks - Rs 6,000 crore, 4.